Informing the world’s response to current and future global health crises.

 

The global consequences of COVID-19 have been steep with lower income and racialized communities suffering more infections and more losses.

It didn’t have to be this way. And we can’t let it happen again.

But we will have to move quickly, because it is always a matter of “if, not when” when it comes to the next global health emergency.

The world needs to identify best practices for global health crisis management in the 21st century. Until all of us are safe, none of us are safe.

 

“War. Climate disaster. Pandemics. There is no room for wishful thinking. We know that global health emergencies will happen and that they require a preparedness and a capacity for response.”

– Dr. Joanne Liu

 

Focus areas

  1. Vaccine equity

We are mapping existing distribution lines and identifying gaps in coverage to:

  • Understand the factors that can facilitate access to vaccines.
  • Identify barriers to access.
  • Develop practical, culturally sensitive and locally informed recommendations to overcome barriers.
  • Support community voices as they advocate for themselves.

  1. Guiding COVID and post-COVID policy response

PERL and global partners are developing an actionable policy response to COVID, by:

  • Forming rapid response teams
  • Convening problem-solving workshops with international experts
  • Providing seed funds to pilot high-risk, high-reward innovations
  • Identifying and communicating best practices on pandemic response
  • Examining responses to other infectious diseases, including HIV and tuberculosis, partners build stronger models for pandemic preparedness in various contexts, including low- and middle-income countries

  1. Training the next generation of health emergency leaders

PERL will serve as one of the world’s leading centres for training the health leaders of the future by:

  • Leveraging an interdisciplinary approach to serve as a magnet for outstanding early-career scientists and clinicians from around the world
  • Providing opportunities for hands-on simulation training

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“One of the lessons of the Ebola outbreak was that you have to prepare for the future while the crisis is going on.”

—Dr. Joanne Liu
 

Director

PERL is led by joanne.liu [at] mcgill.ca (Dr. Joanne Liu), former international president of Doctors Without Borders and a global expert on health emergency response. Dr. Liu has coordinated emergency medical aid across the globe, both in response to natural disasters and disease, notably Ebola in 2014. As a member of the World Health Organization’s Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, she also contributes to a set of comprehensive recommendations on pandemic readiness.

 

 

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